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Conventional MRI relies on a strong fixed magnetic field B0 which is stable during the imaging process. By contrast, field-cycling MRI switches the strength of B0 up or down during an experiment. In this way, field-cycling provides access to endogenous information not accessible to standard MRI, such as enhanced T1 relaxation at certain NMR frequencies due to interactions between hydrogen and nitrogen nuclei in proteins. However, biomedical research of T1 dispersion is limited by the unavailability of equipment and rapid software methods. Strategies are presented to address these deficiencies. A removable electromagnet was designed and implemented for use with a 59-mT vertical-field, permanent-magnet based imager. The resistive magnet locally offsets the primary field over a small projected region to enable field-cycling relaxometry on an otherwise-conventional imager. Radiofrequency coils were constructed to suit the electromagnet’s configuration. T1 dispersion measurements were demonstrated for, separately, the finger joints and forearm of a human volunteer. Prior to this work, producing graphs of T1 dispersion from a volume of interest required lengthy T1 mapping at each field strength step. A new pulse sequence combining SR/IR T1 determination with field-cycling and point-resolved spectroscopy localization enables the measurement of dispersion curves of a volume selected from a pilot image. Its advantages include less partial voluming than whole-sample relaxometry, as well as better SNR and faster acquisition times than image-based techniques. The sequence’s sensitivity is sufficient to reveal distinctive ‘quadrupole dips’ in dispersion curves. To the author’s knowledge, it is the first pulse sequence to enable the relationship between T1 and field strength to be examined in times which are feasible for clinical investigations. Used together as presented in this thesis, the hardware and software developed represent a step towards field-cycling being used to reveal useful diagnostic information inaccessible to conventional MRI.

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published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

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